Review of Psychoanalytic Approach to Counselling

Running head: CASE SUMMARY 1

 

Case Summary of Helen

Student Name

Liberty University

 

 

 

 

CASE SUMMARY 2

 

Case Summary of Helen

Helen Robinson is a 43-year-old Caucasian woman who came to counseling due to

problems in her marriage. Helen holds an MFA in playwriting from Yale. She is married, and

she and her husband Steve have three children. She met Steve while she was attending Yale and

he was working in New York City as a bond trader. Steve is 48 years old and grew up in

suburban New Jersey. The three children are a ten-year-old boy (Luke), a twelve-year-old girl

(Grace), and a fourteen-year-old boy (Charlie).

 

Helen grew up in suburban Chicago. Her parents Sarah and William are a nurse and

medical doctor who met while serving in the Korean War. William is 82 and Sarah is 77. Sarah

and William are quietly religious. They are retired, living most of the year in Chicago. They

raised five children in a loving but not very demonstrative family. Their oldest child is Helen’s

sister, Mary Grace, who is 48. Next oldest in this family is Elizabeth (“Betsy”). She is 45. Helen

is the third child. The fourth is another daughter, Tess, 40 years old. The youngest child is a son,

Will. He is 38.

 

Helen’s family of origin had the appearance of the “perfect” family. Her dad was a very

successful surgeon, but he was not encouraging or involved in the children’s lives on a daily

basis. Her mom was loving and steady yet also somewhat reserved, perhaps more concerned

with what others thought than she would have liked to admit. In some ways the family

environment was one of benign neglect—the children behaved well and so no one thought there

could possibly be anything wrong. But in fact, two of Helen’s sisters had eating disorders and

her brother has battled alcohol addiction.

 

Helen and Steve lived in New York City after they got married. Helen had an

 

administrative job with a theatre and wrote some at night, although she stopped writing when

 

 

 

 

CASE SUMMARY 3

 

they had their son Charlie. They had plenty of money, but Steve began to gamble during a

period when his work was not going as well as he would have liked. They owned a small house

at the beach that they sold when they were about to have their third child, thinking they would

use the proceeds and move out of the city. They made $75,000 profit on the house, which they

put into a money market account while they looked for a new home. Helen was eight months

pregnant when she found the perfect house and subsequently learned that Steve had gambled

away all of the money in the account as well as most of their savings.

 

Helen was devastated, but having grown up in a family where you stick it out no matter

what, she immediately began looking for treatment for Steve and housing options for their young

family. He voluntarily entered an in-patient treatment center and then attended Gamblers

Anonymous for a while. Unable to deal with the strain, Helen called on her parents for assistance

(in spite of the fact that she believes that they never truly accepted Steve). They suggested she

look in the Chicago area because it would have job options for Steve and perhaps less pressure

than New York City. Helen’s parents offered financial assistance in the form of a down payment

on a house and although it was never stated, it was understood that the money was for a house in

Chicago. Because Steve was not close to his family, he was open to the move, perhaps eager to

just put troubles behind him. With a baby and two toddlers in tow, Helen found a home in a

suburb near her family, engineered a move and supported her husband during his job search,

which ended successfully. They have lived in that house for ten years.

 

Although he stopped gambling, Steve never really expressed any remorse for his

behavior and has taken for granted Helen’s loyalty and sacrifice during this difficult time in their

lives. Although Helen grew up in a stable home, she received little verbal affirmation growing

up. Thus Helen had self-esteem and confidence issues at the time she met Steve. By the time she

 

 

 

 

CASE SUMMARY 4

 

sought therapy, her confidence had plummeted. In spite of the fact that she has a

prestigious degree, she has little hope that she will ever write plays again.

 

On a recent trip to New York with some friends, Helen ran into a former professor from

Yale. He is divorced, eight years older than Helen, and very handsome. He asked about her work

and although she was pleased that he asked she was also embarrassed that she’d done nothing

(although in her mind this lack of progress was no great loss because she feels untalented). He

reminded her that she won a competition during graduate school and he shared a couple of

things faculty members had said about her in which they praised her talent and insight.

 

He asked her to meet him for a drink and gave her his business card. She didn’t call him,

but kept the card and did not tell Steve about the encounter. Having survived a crisis in her

marriage, she now feels resigned to her life with Steve, even though Steve does not support her

career ambitions and has never really confronted his own demons.

 

Helen is a thoughtful woman and a good mother, who has no interest in destroying her

family by having an affair. However, she is troubled deeply by the way she feels right now (that

her husband can “do no right”). Her fear is that nothing will change for the rest of her marriage.

She is surprised that the crisis she and her husband endured (because of his gambling) did not

cause her to feel like ending the marriage. It is only now that she doubts the marriage (now that

she’s met someone who is interested in her). She’s also interested in this former professor,

irritated that her husband doesn’t support her, worried about the aimlessness she is feeling now

that her children are older. These feelings bring her to a decision to seek help.